Meet Susan Reinhardt- Author

Hello, today we will be talking with Susan J. Reinhardt. I am excited to have her stop here on her blog tour for her first e-book, The Moses Conspiracy. Susan hails from the Keystone state, Pennsylvania.

1. What inspired you to write The Moses Conspiracy?

My late husband and I visited Gettysburg prior to Christmas in 2004. While standing in the old town square, surrounded by history, I could "hear" the forefathers' voices. However, they were like fading echoes.

After several failed attempts to write non-fiction pieces, I put it on the back burner and prayed for direction. In August 2005, my husband and I were talking about "the Gettysburg experience," and he said, "That's it!  That's your book! And you'll write it in 4 months and call it Ghosts of the Past."

I thought he was crazy, but caught the vision. The name changed to Echoes of the Past and later to The Moses Conspiracy. When I sat down at the computer, I had no clue what I was going to write. By Christmas 2005, I had 55,000 words.

2. How long did it take you to write the book? Was it an easy journey?

The first draft took 4 months, but then I had to learn how to write fiction. I cut my writing teeth on this book. There were multiple re-writes while I shopped it around. It took 8 years to write, get a contract, and an agent.

The journey was far from easy. From 2006-2007, I wrote very little due to my husband's battle with leukemia, death, and subsequent challenges. When I came through the grief process, I knew I had to finish the book both in his memory and because I felt the Lord had directed me to write it.

3. What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

There are several messages, including the faithfulness of God during difficult times, the importance of protecting our freedoms, and building strong family relationships.

4. What genre is your book?

I loosely define The Moses Conspiracy as Christian Speculative Fiction because it takes place in 2025. Although it takes place in the near future, I've avoided a lot of techno-babble. One take-away I wanted for the reader was the possibility this or something similar could happen.

5 Tell us a little about your writing background.

I've written for many years, but only started my publishing journey 10 years ago. Non-fiction is my first love, and I'd still like to produce a devotional or other non-fiction book down the road. I digress. I've had numerous devotions, short pieces, and a few compilation stories published along the way.

Fiction has always interested me, but I never pursued it until a visit to Gettysburg in 2004 stuck in my mind.

Mary's Discovery

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Mary asked the man, "Where have you taken Him?" Then she heard her name. She looked up and saw Jesus. She ran into town and told all she met, "HE'S ALIVE." 

Study this picture. Mary is joyful that her Master lives. We are to be joyful that our Master lives

.He Lives

Because He Lives

My wish for you, my readers is that you have a glorious Resurrection Sunday, May God richly bless you and yours.

  

Growth Yields Peace

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“The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; your love,

O Lord, endures forever- do not abandon the work of your hands.”  

 Psalm 138:8 (KJV)

As we grow closer to the Lord, we find ourselves more at peace with Him. He takes what worries us into his hands, reshapes the particulars, and returns it to us in a way that honors Him and we can handle. Sometimes, the outcome is not quite what we desired. Other times the outcome is what God deems best for us.

When we give situations over to the Lord, we have a tendency to take them back. We don’t get resolution of the problem, and we can make ourselves sick over that issue that we took back.

When we lay our hurts and our problems into Jesus’ hands, we communicate our trust in Him.  In return, we receive calmness about the issue. Our spirits are refreshed. We feel strengthened. We can watch God work out the problem.   

God may guide us through the issues—showing us what we need to do to alleviate the problem.

He may change the mindset of the people involved and cause the problem to go away. The decision belongs to Him. It is our job to trust in Him.

Hold Onto What We Know

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"Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,

and those with clean hands will grow stronger.” Job 17:9 (NIV)

When we find ourselves uncomfortable with where we are in our spiritual life, we have to remember to keep doing what we have been doing and keeping in mind that we need to search the scriptures for new signs of Christ’s presence in our lives.

From time to time in our Christian walk we need to get back to the basics of our Christian beliefs. We do this by studying God’s Word and spending quantity and quality in prayer. Certain denominations observe the Lenten and Advent seasons to delve into His Word and seek to grow closer to Him. Sometimes people feel the need to study deeper because they go through a time of testing and trial. A dear friend has done this practice whenever she faces a condition in life that affects her. 

In a prayer group  I participated in, one of the men made a very good point. When we pray for someone going through a hardship, we automatically ask God to remove that circumstance. When we pray that way, we might be impeding God,as He allows the issue to foster growth in that person.

Measurement of Growth

“Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God,

as in fact you are living. Now we ask you in the name of the Lord Jesus

 to do this more and more.”

1 Thessalonians 4:1 (NIV)

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When our son was growing up, we had a ritual we followed. We had received a paper measuring device that we attached to the doorpost in his room. Periodically, we would have him stand up against it and mark his height on the paper. When I grew up, parents did this right on a wall in a corner or on the doorpost itself. As I now watch old western movies, I see places where families did this very same practice. It speaks of their love for their children.

God gives us signs of our growth as we mature in Christ. He allows events to occur in our lives that draws us closer to Him. James tells us to “consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials.” He continues to explain that those trials allow us to become mature in our faith.

God allows rough times to enter our lives for His own reasons. Primarily, He wants us to grow closer to Him. Then, later on, we may have the opportunity to comfort another person as they face a similar hardship. Or, God may use that trial as a benchmark to remind us when we endure a future trial.

As we grow in Christ, we find we are not as impressed with the trappings of this world.

Transformed

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“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory,

 are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,

 which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

“. . . we, who with unveiled faces. . .” In Old Testament times, the people could not look directly on the face of God because of His being holy. Because Jesus rent the veil between the holy and the holiest of holy places in the Temple, we can look directly into God’s face.

“. . . all reflect the Lord’s glory. . .” Paul reminds the Corinthian believers that he and they reflect Jesus’ glory. This is a strong statement. Can we imagine if someone told us we are a mirror image of the Lord?

“. . . are being transformed into his likeness. . .” He tells the church that they being changed to resemble Jesus. Are we 21^st Century Christians being changes into His likeness or that of the world’s?

“. . . with ever-increasing glory. . .” This altering of the people is dynamic. Paul had experienced this changing in himself- first in his heart, then in how he lived. Here he describes this phenomenon as a progression.

“. . . which comes from the Lord. . .” He identifies the source of this process. It originates with the Lord. If we communicate with God on a daily basis, we have the privilege of hearing from Him when we need to.

“. . . who is the Spirit.” Paul explains that God works through the Holy Spirit in order for this transformation to be evident.

Bearing Fruit

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“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit  

showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

John 15:8 (NIV)

Jesus speaks here of our bearing fruit. He tells us that it is for God’s glory. Let’s think about those two statements.

We tell others more than we realize when they meet us. They notice our behavior and our attitude as we interact with them. They watch as we go through trials, noting how we respond.

I once heard of some sisters acting out at their father’s calling hours. Their aunt, who told me the story, was embarrassed by the display. Looking back, I can not put into words what was described to me.

I have a friend who took a spinster lady from our then church into our home when she needed a place to stay due to her health. The older woman went to the hospital, had surgery and did not do well after that. My friend maintained contact with the lady’s out of town family, as well as the woman’s lawyer. Not one time did I hear any complaining word from my friend.

My friend displayed Jesus to the house guest, to her out of town family, to the lady's attorney, and to the people of the church.  I learned a lot from my friend about showing God’s love to others.

Back in the early 1970’s, I read something by E. Stanley Jones that has stayed with me ever since. He told of a Christian’s witness being apparent to others. He said that doctors and morticians can tell if those they work with are Christians. He further said that they base their decision on how accepting the people receive harsh news-the knowledge of a terminal illness, theirs or a loved one’s,-or the loss of a loved one.